Thirty-one people were killed in Mali on Tuesday and 10 others wounded when a bus travelling toward Burkina Faso fell off a bridge in the country's southeast, the transport ministry said.

The accident occurred at around 5:00 pm (1700 GMT) at a bridge crossing the Bagoe river, it added. "A bus ... that was leaving Kenieba commune for Burkina Faso tipped off a bridge. The likely cause is the driver losing control of the vehicle," the ministry said in a statement.